Due to technical difficulties there was no column last week, so it seems prudent to get caught up on the latest news, so here goes:

K-5 NEWS

Due to the tremendous response by Manitoba wrestling fans, World Wrestling Entertainment has opened the west side upper deck for the Smackdown TV taping on Tuesday, July 6 at the Winnipeg Arena. Smackdown is seen every Thursday, 6 p.m., on The Score. Good lower bowl tickets are still available for Monday Night Raw featuring Winnipeg's own Y2J Chris Jericho. Raw will be broadcast live around the world, Monday, July 5 from the Winnipeg Arena. In Canada Raw is seen on TSN. WWE is pleased to be part of the farewell to the Grand Olde Lady on Maroons Roads. The building has a rich wrestling heritage ...TNA starts on Fox Sportsnet in June. It should be a good gauge as to how well the company will do in the future ...Hot shot Johnny Devine is back down in Nashville, Tenn., as an integral part of Team Canada in what is turning into the hottest part of the TNA product, the X Division competitions between countries. Rumors abound that Highlander Rob Scott will be the next familiar face to show up on pay per view, perhaps as a part of Team UK ... Great interview with Eric Bischoff conducted by Joe Aiello this past week on NHB Radio ... Paul Heyman's status is once again the subject of much debate ... Triple H has expressed an interest in working with Edge. There are a couple of ways to look at that, although Trip has been incredible for the most part in his elevation of both Chris Benoit and Shelton Benjamin ... Brock Lesnar is rumored to be working out for the Baltimore Ravens of the NFL. Many don't give Brock much of a shot, but when you are 6-foot-4 and 290 pounds with a 35-inch vertical leap and run a 4.6 second 40-yard dash you might well be looked at as someone worth investing in ... Ivan Soszynski was taking the local wrestling scene by storm and was destined for big things in the business. Then he spent three weeks with Bad News Allen and Gerry Morrow and got "hooked" on submission wrestling. Ivan continued his training by signing up for jiu jitsu. One year later, and Ivan, who fights as Krzyztof "The Experiment" Soszynski is the ICC (International Cage Combat) super-heavyweight champion. Ivan is headed out to Vancouver for a big show where Japanese promoters will get their first look at him. I sense big things will happen for him in the Mixed Martial Arts world ... Raven had the time of his life in Winnipeg. He told me he so enjoyed listening to Tony Condello's stories that he would come back and work for free just to visit with Tony again.